Sunday 12 April 2020

Glorious Resurrection Day


Scripture: Luke 24 v 1 - 7:  "Now upon the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came unto the sepulchre, bringing the spices which they had prepared, and certain others with them.
2  And they found the stone rolled away from the sepulchre.
3  And they entered in, and found not the body of the Lord Jesus.
4  And it came to pass, as they were much perplexed thereabout, behold, two men stood by them in shining garments:
5  And as they were afraid, and bowed down their faces to the earth, they said unto them, Why seek ye the living among the dead? 
6  He is not here, but is risen: remember how he spake unto you when he was yet in Galilee,
7  Saying, The Son of man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again."


On the first day of the week God the Father raised His Son, Jesus Christ from the dead. What a glorious day! It brought eternal life to us, forgiveness, salvation and boldness to enter into the Throne Room of God and worship Him. 

The great immovable stone had been rolled away and the greatest event in human history occurred - the One who was crucified 3 days before, was alive forever more. It was the law that killed Him; the law written by the finger of God on a great stone. Now that great stone was removed and He lived again. A mighty King. 

Those who are truly born again, and not just pretending, do not need any law to condemn them. They are honest, truthful, loving, caring, decent people. No matter what they were before, they are a new creation now. No longer "only human" but touched by the divine love of Jesus. 

Jesus restores us to the status Adam had before the fall. We can walk with Him and talk with Him and be blessed with His healing mercy. He took our sickness, demons and death so we may live an abundant life. We do not need to compete for His love and attention. We do not need to envy or be covetous. We need to love one another as He loved us. 

We are filled to overflowing with the Living Water which gushes out of our innermost being to refresh those who want to drink of the fountain of life. Our souls thirst for righteousness and truth and Jesus says if we drink of the living water we will never thirst again. 

Our part is to keep ourselves unspotted from the world. Do everything in moderation. Turn from religion to a relationship with our Risen Saviour. We are His Body and His Blood cleanses us.  Rejoice in His Resurrection for it is a life-giving power to sustain us as we become witnesses to His victory over death. 

In 1 Corinthians 2 it says if the princes of this world (demons) had known of God's resurrection plan they would never have crucified Him. So keep following Jesus for He is the way, the truth and the life, and no-one comes to the Father except through Him.  

There is a movie I enjoy watching called "Risen"  about a Roman centurion tasked by Pontius Pilate with finding the "stolen" body of Jesus, eventually finds Him alive in the midst of His disciples.  He is instantly converted into a believer saying, I saw You die, now I see You alive, showing the scars of crucifixion to Your disciples.  

There are many who believe who have not seen what the Apostles saw, and many still sceptical whose eyes need opening as happened on the Road to Emmaus.

Luke 24 v 13 - 16:  "And, behold, two of them went that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was from Jerusalem about threescore furlongs.
14  And they talked together of all these things which had happened.
15  And it came to pass, that, while they communed together and reasoned, Jesus himself drew near, and went with them.
16  But their eyes were holden that they should not know him."

When they reached home and invited the "Stranger" in, as they broke bread their eyes were opened and He vanished from their midst.  Many times we are not aware that Jesus is amongst us saying I will never leave you nor forsake you.

Prayer: Father God, we worship You in Spirit and in truth. We worship and bow down for You are the giver of eternal life to Jesus Your Son, and to all of us who follow Him back to Your heavenly kingdom. He is our King and Redeemer so worthy to be exalted. This is the Day of Resurrection and we are resurrected in Him, and alive forevermore. Amen.